I did not really understand the question, but without writing an essay on the subject..

The "new" windward/leeward with gate courses used in many classes are documented on page 5 in this PDF from the Tornado class: http://www.tornado.org/uploads/documents/Tornado%20Class%20Rules%20-%20Appendix%20C.pdf
Courses are much shorter than what you probably sailed on the Tornado earlier. You can often see the top mark before you start these days.

Olympic classes do fleet racing first, but finish it off with a medal race where the top 10 boats participate. Points are doubled in this race, so lots can be gained. There are umpires on the course, so you get "instant justice (tm)" instead of taking protests to the room. Idea from ISAF is that this will make it harder for a team to win the even before the last race is sailed.


Usually you will get answers to most post here, but it can take a bit of time now and then.